


I'm With You

by squeakychewtoy



Category: Jurassic Park (1993), Jurassic Park (Movies), Jurassic Park (Topps Comics), Jurassic Park - All Media Types
Genre: Alan being overly dramatic, Angst and Fluff and Smut, BDSM, Bondage, Digging, Dinosaurs, Domestic Fluff, Dominance, Exhibitionism, F/M, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Smut, Foreshadowing, Hurt/Comfort, Light Bondage, Love, M/M, Married Life, Multi, Nerds in Love, OT3, OTP Feels, OTP+1, Outdoor Sex, Paleontology, Past Relationship(s), Porn, Science, Sex, Smut, Submission, bones - Freeform, dinosaur fetish, leash, oh hi mark, otp, polyamory(implied), smutty fluff with a side of nightmares, vague mention of having kids, zoophilia(implied)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 15:55:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12560932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squeakychewtoy/pseuds/squeakychewtoy
Summary: Jurassic Park 3 broke my heart! I wrote this to cope. AU where JP3 is literally only a nightmare.  Part fluff, part smut, part retcon..... mostly art therapy.July, 2001. Alan and Ellie find a pair of Deinonychus skeletons that died while mating, and sneak off for some mating of their own. When they return, they are confronted by part of Ellie's past that she'd hoped was behind her forever. It's enough to give Alan the worst nightmare of his life, a nightmare of a life without Ellie.





	I'm With You

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said, JP3 broke my fucking heart. p.q Even though I've included characters from that in here, I can't in good conscience put JP3 in the tags as I am very much NOT a fan of it.
> 
> I can only accept that film as Alan's nightmare. That would even explain the bad science: our subconscious can really mess with our dreaming minds and make discordant connections - like a raptor whistle shaped like a dog's sinus cavity. :P I planned to "rewrite" the whole movie, but I ended up cutting what I had down to just this. I feel like this was all that was needed: a weird day and a bad nightmare. I thought about cutting out the sex scene, too, but I simply love smut too much to do that. :P Besides, I think it adds an interesting dimension to their relationship.
> 
> I've loved the Alan/Ellie pairing since I first saw Jurassic Park back in '93 and they've been very much my favorite OTP from anything ever since. The OT3 with Ian has grown on me more recently and has basically become cemented in my headcanon as well, so I made sure he was mentioned. Even though Ian is out of town during this, I wanted to make it clear that Alan and Ellie love him very much and he's still a part of their lives. It makes more sense for them to be together than apart, after all they've been through. I headcanonize their relationship with Ian being an on-and-off side thing at first, but after the events of The Lost World, Ian finally commits to them. Alan/Ellie is still very much the main deal though. Don't get me wrong: they love Ian a lot, but in the end I see Alan and Ellie as true soul mates. This is why it felt so devastating to me that they were split in that third movie. I've never had so many feels for a pairing or a poly triad before. So if any of this comes off as cheesy and fluffy... that's why.
> 
> Also includes some vague foreshadowing to my Changes stories and mentions some events from the comics. And Alan's dinosaur fetish.... I headcanonize that he really, REALLY likes those scalies in a very special way. You can see it on his face when he watches them eat that steer. Mmmmnf! :B
> 
> The title is a Red Hot Chili Peppers album. I listen to a lot of Chili Peppers when I write, which probably goes a long way to explain why most of my stories are full of smut.

It was a hot July day on Raptor Ridge in southern Montana. Doctors Grant and Sattler worked together brushing bits of dust and rock away from the remains of a _Deinonychus._ They were the only ones out here; the rest of their digging crew were back at camp crating and cataloging all the fossils that had been unearthed in the previous few days, and Alan and Ellie's shared lover Ian Malcolm had taken their son and daughter on a trip to Texas while the team got caught up on their work here.

They'd unearthed most of this seemingly complete and well-preserved skeleton. Though the bones of _this_ dromaeosaurid were long dead and could not hurt them, their memories of their misadventures among similar creatures were still traumatized into their minds. Though the nightmares had faded and stopped after a couple years' time, neither could ever _forget_. And yet... Alan sighed. He'd always seen a strange eroticism in dromaeosaurs, and witnessing their sleek musculature in the flesh had been a sexually religious experience for him.

Alan carefully scraped the rock from the dinosaur's thigh bone with the tongue of his belt buckle. It gave him a better feel for what he was working with than his actual _digging_ tools. As he brushed the loosened debris away, he noticed what appeared to be another smooth ridge of fossilized bone protruding from the ground under this one.

“What's  _this_ ?” he asked, pointing it out to Ellie.

“Could be part of another specimen,” she replied. “Let's find out.”

They dug around this new piece of bone, finding it to be the pelvis of another  _Deinonychus_ , wedged between the thigh bones of their first specimen.

“It's a hip bone,” Alan gasped, grinning. “Do you know what this means?”

“Looks like they might've died while having sex,” Ellie replied, grinning back at him.

“Damn right,” Alan agreed. “There aren't many fossils like  _this_ . We found something  _special_ here.”

They uncovered the entire pubic bone and moved on to the vertebrae. The remains did, indeed, appear to be in a mating pose.  
“God, why are they so  _sexy_ ?” Alan muttered in a low voice, sighing wearily.

“They're graceful animals,” said Ellie, who didn't disagree. “ _Deadly,_ to be sure, but so are tigers and cobras. But they're still  _beautiful_ . There's often a strange beauty to deadly creatures, isn't there? Sometimes the most  _beautiful_ creatures are the most  _deadly._ ”

“How deadly are  _you_ ?” Alan asked playfully.

“Ah, jeez,” Ellie said, giggling, “I wouldn't know. Deadly _enough_ when I have to _defend_ myself, I guess.”

“Well, _you're_ the most beautiful creature I've ever _known_.” He reached up and stroked her cheek lovingly. “You'd be the sexiest dinosaur of all, I _know_ it.”

Ellie giggled and blushed.

“It's just... after all we've been through... I still have these fantasies of us... _being_ raptors... I mean, we're still _us_ , just _raptors_... and we're _wild,_ we're _free..._ Dreams, sometimes, of running, hunting.... _mating_. I don't know... It's weird... _I'm_ weird... ”

Alan's voice trailed off, his thoughtful expression partly hidden in the shadow of his wide-brimmed hat. He stroked the fossilized hip bone now protruding from the earth. He tried hard to never keep his feelings from Ellie, even the deepest of his fantasies. She was one of a _very_ short list of people he felt he could _trust_. They'd been everywhere together and seen so much these past eight years; _of course_ she knew everything about him, even his weirder sexual proclivities... maybe _especially_ those.

“Well, yeah, you're _weird_. That's why I fell in love with you.”

Alan smiled at her. Eventually, he asked thoughtfully, “Ellie... Do you remember the _sounds_ they made?”

“I try not to,” Ellie gasped.

“Not those awful hunting shrieks,” Alan said quickly, clarifying. “The _mating_ calls, I mean.”

“ _Those_ were beautiful,” Ellie agreed; the mating call of a raptor was a deep musical tone, quite lovely to the human ear. They'd once witnessed the mating of two of InGen's raptors, whom they had named Alf and Celia, after they'd escaped from a drug lord's imprisonment into the Columbian jungle. Ellie closed her eyes and blushed, grinning at the memory. Alan's libido had been  insatiable for _days_ after witnessing _that._

“Well... remember those Dinotopia books?” Alan asked her.

“I _love_ those books,” Ellie replied. “If only the dinosaurs _we_ met had been that civil.”

Alan laughed. “If only! Well, you know those instruments they had that mimicked the calls of dinosaurs?”

Ellie nodded.

“I wonder how you'd go about _making_ something like that. I'd _love_ to have a way to mimic those calls. I can still _hear_ them sometimes... at night... _calling_ to me from the dark... ”

Alan sighed, and they continued to dig. Removing dust and rock from these bones was painstaking work. They kept at it for several minutes more.

Ellie eyed her husband hungrily. She was close enough to smell his arousal; he smelled like dirt, cinnamon, and hot male musk. She also noticed the bulge slowly growing in his pants.... maybe she could relieve his tension.

“Hey Alan,” Ellie said.

“Hmm?” Alan looked up from his meticulous work on the bones.

“We've been out here three hours, honey. We could use a break. I've got an idea.”

Alan gave her an appraising look. He knew very well how tenacious she was; when Ellie Sattler had an idea, _nothing_ could stop her. He could tell that his lovely alpha female's idea was _sex_ , and he couldn't _possibly_ say no to _that_. Though it still seemed a little unprofessional for the middle of the work day, it wouldn't be the first time and was quite unlikely to be the last.

“Okay,” said Alan with a knowing half-smile, “what did you have in mind?”

“Come with me,” Ellie replied, taking him by the hand and leading him up the trail.

Alan looked around, hoping to find Billy, their young research assistant. He usually let Billy know when Ellie dragged him off on a lustful romp, but this time Billy was nowhere to be found.

They walked for several minutes, taking the left-hand path down into their favorite hiding spot in the red rock canyon. Ellie pulled a leash and collar from her pocket and began removing her clothing.

“Ready?” Ellie asked.

“Of course,” said Alan, blushing and looking around nervously to make sure they hadn't been followed; horny as he was, he felt exposed out here. “What if someone comes looking for us?”

“Too bad for them; _they're_ not getting any,” Ellie replied with a sarcastic smirk.

Now nude, she embraced him, kissing him forcefully on the mouth. Her fingers wandered to his crotch, gently stroking his growing erection through his pants.

“Oh, Ellie...”

Overcome with lust, Alan also disrobed and allowed Ellie to fasten the collar around his neck. When she had finished, she tugged at the leash, bringing Alan's lips to her own for another passionate kiss. The hot summer sun beat down on them and the desert breeze caressed their bare skin.

Ellie found a small ledge and sat there, her legs spread. She allowed very little slack on the leash, keeping her lover close.

Alan knelt, knowing exactly what she wanted. He lowered his head to her vulva, taking in her delightful female aroma for one long moment before sliding his tongue between her moist folds, caressing her clit with the tip. She tasted a bit like a ripe mango, tangy and sweet. Her hips twitched gently with excitement, humping at his tongue.

He brought Ellie to orgasm within minutes. Her hips bucked wildly; Alan was worried she'd break one of his teeth with her thrashing. She yanked hard on the leash, choking him; this did not slow his vigorous licking. She climaxed hard and cried out in pleasure, her hot juices squirting onto Alan's face and dripping down his chin. Ellie's passionate squirming eventually ceased and she let out a satisfied sigh.

Alan gasped for air as Ellie loosened her grip on the leash. He liked being choked; it reminded him who was in charge.

“That's a good boy,” she told her lover, stroking his hair.

“I love you, my Alpha,” Alan told her, standing and kissing her neck.

“I love you, too,” Ellie replied. “Now it's your turn. Get over here.”

Ellie tugged at the leash again, pulling Alan close and growling playfully. She pinned him against the rock wall and kissed him, tasting her own flavor on his lips, and then slid down onto her knees in front of him. She planted little kisses all over his torso, trailing down to his pubic region. His thick uncircumcised penis throbbed with desire as she did so. Alan moaned as she teased at his cock with her warm wet tongue, sliding it up and down his length. He steadied himself against the cliff as Ellie took him into her mouth, stroking just under the tip with her tongue and sucking gently.

“Oh, Ellie,” he gasped, “you clever girl... that's so good...”

Ellie fellated him for several more minutes. His twelve inches now stood at full attention, slick with saliva and dripping precum. Once satisfied with how hard and slippery she'd made his cock, Ellie lay on the ground, ready for him.

“Come get me, you dirty old dinosaur,” she told him, gently tugging the leash to lead him closer.

Alan knelt on the rocky ground and crawled to her, growling predatorily. He used his hand to guide his cock between Ellie's silky folds of flesh, shivering in delight as he did so. He thrust once, as deep as he could go, and paused to savor the simple comforting sensation of his turgid penis inside her. Kissing her neck, he thrust again, and again, slowly and lovingly.

“Ah, god, you might as well be a _dinosaur,_ ” Ellie gasped. “You're so _big._ ”

“Not all dinosaurs were  _big_ ,” Alan pointed out.

“No, but  _you_ are,” she said with a grin. “Like... like a  _Spinosaurus_ or something... ah, god, I  _love_ it...”

Suddenly, a sound caught their attention. Footsteps were coming their way from back toward camp.

“Doctor Grant?” A voice called for them: Billy's voice. “Doctor Sattler?”

“Oh, shit,” Dr. Grant exclaimed.

Alan tried to break away from his wife in embarrassment. Her grip on the leash around his neck prevented him from fleeing. She wrapped her legs tightly around him, thrusting her pelvis forcefully to guide his cock deeper within her.

“No,” Ellie commanded him.

“Uh... doctors?” Billy had found them and now stood there, staring dumbfoundedly at the scene in front of him: his employers entangled in a carnal embrace, their clothing strewn about on the ground. He had _some_ idea that this might be what they did on some of their “breaks,” but he never expected to walk in on it.

Alan yelped and turned his head to glance at Billy. Ellie prevented his escape once more.

“What? It's just Billy. You won't tell anyone, right, Billy?” Ellie smiled at the boy.

“Um... uh... n-nuh... no,” Billy stammered, continuing to stare for a second, dumbfounded, before shaking his head and running back the way he had come.

“Well, shouldn't we –“ Alan began, trying in vain to pull away.

“No,” said Ellie, cutting off his sentence by tugging hard on the leash. “This is happening whether you like it or not, Doctor Grant. And I _know_ you like it.”

“Ahh...it's true,” Alan admitted, gasping for breath and looking her in the eyes. “But we should–“

“Let it _happen_ , Alan,” Ellie insisted, yanking the leash once more. She grinned wickedly, grabbing his ass and forcing him to continue thrusting with feral lust. Her nails raked across his back, leaving bright pink scratch marks in their wake.

Alan gave up; there was indeed no stopping this woman from getting what she wanted. Her tenacity both turned him on and frustrated him, all at once. There was no use arguing. Besides, sex with her was _always_ amazing.

He thrust himself deep inside her, making her moan. He kissed her and kept going, faster and harder until she climaxed again, her pubic muscles squeezing delightfully around his cock. Ellie screamed in ecstasy. She clawed at his back again, this time making him bleed. Alan gasped in pained pleasure as she hurt him just right.

Alan felt his own climax building. He bit Ellie on the neck and held on, mimicking the mating behavior of a predatory animal as he continued to thrust wildly, growling in her ear. The orgasm exploded inside him and he ejaculated hard into her depths. He howled and shivered, his senses overloaded with pleasure.

Alan allowed himself to relax in his lovely wife's arms as the pleasant fog of afterglow clouded his brain. Their needs had been satiated, for now.

“That was... _highly_ unprofessional,” Alan panted, laughing.

“But you _liked_ it,” said Ellie as she held him close.

“I _did_ ,” he agreed with a smile and satisfied sigh. “I _always_ do.”

“We can get dressed and go back now... if you like.”

“I don't want to,” said Alan, who hadn't even pulled out yet. “I want to stay inside you _forever_.”

Ellie laughed and hugged him tight. “Well, we can stay out here as long as you want. Don't forget, _you're_ in charge back there.”

“I just need a few more of these snuggles first,” he told her, clinging to her fiercely and nuzzling her soft skin. His heart was still racing.

“Whatever you want, honey.”

Alan smiled, tired and happy.

 

 

Billy ran down the path to the dig site, back to where Mark Delger was waiting. Mr. Delger's clean suit and tie was a weird contrast to the dirty flannel-clad diggers who worked around them.

“Uh, so, Doctor Sattler.... um...” Billy stammered, “she's, ah.... not ready.”

“What's got _you_ so freaked out?” Mark asked.

Billy stared at the older man, his eyes wide, and told him quietly, “What has been seen... cannot be unseen.”

“Uh... if you say so?” Mark had no idea what he meant.

“Well, uh... her and Dr. Grant... they'll be a while. They're, um... working on something big and can't be disturbed.” The younger man was still visibly shaken, to which Mark was oblivious as he turned and inspected the trailer before him.

“Then I'll wait,” Mark replied calmly. “This one's her trailer?”

“Yeah,” said Billy, nodding nervously.

Mark headed up the steps and opened the trailer door. He knew only that Dr. Ellie Sattler still lived and worked here. No one had bothered to tell him that, eight years earlier, she had married Alan Grant, and Mark hadn't even bothered to ask. Not that it mattered to Mark. Surely, he thought, if she _was_ married, she'd definitely leave whatever husband had brought her to a place like _this_ and run straight into his arms; his ex-wife had.

“Hey, I don't think you should be doing that,” Billy said, surprised.

“So? Door's not locked,” said Mark; he did not care. A well-paying job with the State Department had given him an inflated sense of self-importance. “She's an old friend of mine; she'll understand. And I just _know_ she'll be happy to see me. ”

Mark Delger slammed the door in Billy's face. He looked around at the news clippings posted on the walls, mostly scientific articles about dinosaurs, but a few were from Weekly World News and other weird tabloids. One of the headlines read, “Millionaire Dog Inherits Fortune.” One directly underneath read, “Millionaire Dog Dies of Overdose: Foul play suspected.” On the fridge were childrens' drawings, which he assumed to be from nieces and nephews. Crates of fossils, freshly unearthed and ready to be cataloged, were strewn about the kitchen and dining area, while in the living area he saw a few prehistoric-looking plush animals perched on the couch. His eyes wandered up to the shelf above him, which was full of detailed plastic dinosaur replicas. Amidst the fake prehistoric reptiles, a cardboard cut-out of a cat stared down from its strategic perch above a wall-mounted dust-buster.

“Weird,” Mark muttered.

Still. Ellie was a smart and beautiful woman, even if her choice of decor left something to be desired. Mark was newly divorced and knew who he wanted to marry next. He was absolutely convinced that Ellie Sattler would take him back after twelve years apart.

He was also _wrong_.

 

 

Twenty minutes later, Alan and Ellie got dressed and headed back to the dig site. They talked and laughed the whole way back, finally making it to their trailer.

Billy sat on the steps, looking distressed. “Took you long enough. I had to cover for you. This Delger guy was looking for you, Dr. Sattler.”

“Delger? Oh, no...” Ellie's mood instantly soured. She frowned and hid her face in one hand, rubbing her temples.

“He went into your trailer,” Billy continued.

“He _what?_ ” Alan stormed past the younger man, rushing into the trailer.

“We should really start locking the doors, honey,” Ellie called to him, following. “I don't know why we never _do_ , after Hammond stole our wedding champagne and took us to Hell...”

“Who the hell do you think you are, just barging into my house like this?” Alan yelled at the strange man who now sat at their dining room table.

“ _Your_ house? I thought it was Doctor Sattler's,” Mark Delger replied.

“What the hell do you want with my wife, and what makes you think you can just break in to her house?” Alan grabbed the man by the shirt collar, enraged.

“Your _wife?_ ” Mark's eyes went wide with shock. “Look, I'm an old friend of hers; I thought it would be okay to just wait in here. Who the hell are _you_ , anyway?”

“I'm the _very_ dangerous beta male around here,” Alan growled with a grim smile. “And you just walked into my territory.”

“Heh, beta,” Mark scoffed. “Who's the alpha, then?”

“I think you've been looking for her, Mark,” Ellie said quietly from the doorway.

They both turned their heads to look at her. She sighed.

“Ellie, who the hell is this and can I please have my raptor claw for a second?” Alan asked her.

“Alan, honey, I'm not about to let you threaten my ex with your genital-mutilating lizard hook,” Ellie told him. She wore the claw around her neck on a piece of beaded hemp string.

“ _He's_ your _what_?” Alan looked at her in surprise, and then back at the stranger with a cold glare. “Well, he seems _nice_ ,” he sneered sarcastically.

“Alan,” Ellie said in a commanding tone. “Just let me handle this. I'll talk to him, just... go cool off, honey. Please.”

Alan grunted in frustration and shoved the man back into the chair. He sighed and exited the trailer obediently, but not before kissing Ellie passionately on the lips and giving the newcomer a cold glare, establishing his dominance over this rival male. He trusted Ellie implicitly; he did _not_ trust this newcomer with his Ellie. He tried to remember that Ellie could take care of herself.

After Alan left, Ellie asked, “The hell do you want, Mark, and why are you making me live out a Gloria Gaynor song?”

“What?” Mark stared at her blankly.

“She sang _I Will Survive._ I _know_ you know _that_ one. ”

“Um... right... Well, I was _hoping_ to sweep you off your feet and take you _away_ from all this,” Mark replied with bravado.

“I'm happy here,” said Ellie resolutely. “And _you_ should leave.”

“Oh, Ellie, always playing hard-to-get,” Mark said with a grin. “You know, I'm working for the State Department now. Six-figure salary. You'd be set for life, and all _you_ need to do is run away with me.”

“I don't give a shit, Mark. _I_ don't need to do _anything..._ _You_ need to _leave_.”

“Come on, Ellie. I brought you _flowers._ ” He held out a bouquet of multicolored carnations.

Ellie scoffed. “ _Those_ are plant genitals.”

Mark stared at her blankly and then examined the carnations. “What's the difference?”

“Flowers  _ are _ plant genitals, Mark. What, did you  _ forget _ I studied  _ botany _ in college?”

“As if  _ I _ could keep track of all my old girlfriends' majors.”

“Why don't you go bother one of your  _ other  _ old girlfriends, then? You're barking up the wrong tree here, Mark.”

“Well,  _ you _ were always the most  _ fun _ out of all of 'em.”

Mark tried to stroke her cheek, but Ellie caught his arm by the wrist as it extended toward her.

“ _ You _ need to  _ leave _ ,” she repeated coldly.

“You don't _really_ want me to leave without a little kiss for an old friend,” said Mark, attempting to pin her against a wall.

“Yes. Yes, I actually _do_ want you to leave without kissing me. I want that _very_ much,” Ellie insisted.

“You wanted it _once_.”

“That was _twelve_ years ago. I'm married to Alan Grant now. We're _happy_.”

“So that beast has a name,” Mark smirked. “Wait. Isn't he that _dinosaur man_? He wrote that one book, right? About some stupid theory that dinosaurs turned into birds... yeah, my boy Charlie has a copy. Silliest shit I ever heard.”

“Don't you _dare_ speak that way about my husband,” Ellie yelled. “He's a fucking genius! You don't know him, you don't know what we've been through together, and you are _not_ my friend. I have a family with Alan now. I love him.”

“But I know you, Ellie. I know you want this kiss.”

Mark leaned in and tried to connect his lips with hers. In response, Ellie kneed him in the groin. Mark went down with a pained gasp and a thud, dropping the carnations. Once he was on the floor, she kicked him in the stomach.

“No, Mark,” Ellie scoffed. “I don't.”

She grabbed him by the back of his suit collar and forcibly removed him from her home, dragging him to the door. Ellie was a small woman but deceptively strong. She threw him down the steps. He lay there for a time, doubled up in agony.

“You.... you _psychopath,_ ” Mark squeaked in pain and rage.

Alan saw this happen from across the field where he was now apologizing to Billy for their awkward moment earlier. He smiled at Ellie. Ellie waved to him, a “told-you-so” grin on her face.

Mark fled without another word, returning to his car and speeding away. He was unlikely to return.

Ellie walked to where Alan was standing and hugged him.

“You used to _date_ that prick?” Alan asked her, surprised at her past taste in men.

“Look,” Ellie replied, “it was a long time ago, and back then my hobby was going to the supermarket and staring contemplatively at fresh produce with a tube of KY jelly in my hand.”

“I see...”

Ellie crossed her arms and faced away from Alan, staring out thoughtfully at the sky. She was stressed and angry at Mark's audacity, but she didn't want to worry Alan with her problems, didn't want him to see her _cry._ Angry tears pooled up in her eyes, and she wiped them away before they had a chance to fall.

“My point is, it wasn't as serious as _he_ thought it was,” she explained. “And he thought I'd crawl back to him after twelve years. Twelve fucking years! But no. Just _no_. He was such a chauvinist pig that I ended up going full 'femi-nazi' for two whole years. Damn, I _hated_ men after him... I wanted to be a lesbian... I tried dating girls, but the attraction just wasn't there... And then I met _you_. That changed everything.”

Ellie looked back at her mate.

“You're all I need,” she added.

“What about Ian?” Alan asked, embracing her from behind, his strong arms encircling her tiny waist.

Ellie laughed, “Ian needs _us_.”

“ _I_ need him, sometimes,” Alan replied with a sigh. “Especially when _you're_ away.”

“I love Ian, too, and he's fun and all, but he's not the father of my children, not the one I _rely_ on every single day. Though I _am_ glad we can rely on him to look after the kids. _They_ love him, too. ”

“Funny how I used to think of him as a _rival_.  He's been a wonderful lover to _both_ of us, and a big help around here. ”

“Funny how things work out,” Ellie said with a giggle.

“I miss him,” Alan said, smiling fondly. “ _And_ the kids.”

“But you have _me_ all to yourself until they come back,” Ellie informed him, grinning.

“So long as you don't run off with Mark, I'm happy.”

“On _what_ planet do you think _that's_ likely?” Ellie's nose wrinkled in disgust at the thought.

“Certainly not _this_ one.”

They shared another kiss.

“I love you, Ellie... It doesn't matter,” Alan whispered in her ear. “I'm not jealous, just protective. I mean, _shit_... you're my _wife_.”

“Damn right,” Ellie agreed with a smile; thoughtfully, she added, “You know, I kneed him in the nuts just now?”

Alan laughed. “Remind me not to piss you off.”

“Yeah, he ain't coming back.”

Ellie led the way back to the trailer. They grabbed a couple beers and headed back out to dig. They still had a lot of work to do.

As they exited the trailer, Ellie did not forget to lock the door this time; it became a habit for both of them from then on.

 

 

Alan awoke in the middle of the night with a startled scream. He sat up, cold sweat covering his skin and a troubling nightmare fresh in his mind.

Ellie rolled over, startled awake by her husband's terrified yell. It had been _years_ since either of them had had a night terror, but neither could forget those nights of clinging to each other for dear sanity upon waling from vivid and bloody dreams. Now, as then, she reached out to comfort him, stroking his arm.

“Alan? What's the matter?”

Disorientation and loss darkened Alan's rugged features. He looked Ellie in the eyes, gazing at her with disbelief, and whispered, “Ellie... you're _here_.”

“Of course I am,” she said reassuringly. “Where else would I be?”

“In that asshole Mark's house,” he replied. “I had a nightmare.... you were... _married_ to him.”

Alan hid his face in the blanket now wrapped around his body. He started sobbing; Ellie stroked his shoulder comfortingly.

“Oh, Alan...”

“I went to visit you. You were so unhappy, Ellie. You had two kids with him and you _love_ kids, but you looked so damn _miserable_... it _hurt_ to see you like that.”

Alan looked his wife in the eyes.

“You saved me from another island full of dinosaurs,” he continued. “I got tricked into going there by this weird couple who claimed to be billionaires. I had this... this damn stupid thing, like a whistle that made raptor noises, but it looked like a cast of a dog's sinus cavity... and, well, I called you from the river on a satellite phone... A _Spinosaurus_ was trying to kill me, trying to drown me. And you called the the Navy and the Marines to save me, Ellie. And you told me I was 'still the best.' But, Ellie... you were with _him_ , Ellie... you were with _him_... and you _stayed_ with him... you stayed with him and you _weren't even happy_... Shit, I felt so much _hate_ for him, for failing to _satisfy_ you, but I had to be polite, keep it inside… and _I_ was... I was _alone,_ Ellie... _Alone_... _so fucking alone_...”

He broke down crying into the blanket again.

“But I'm _not_ with him, Alan,” said Ellie. “I'm with _you._ ”

“Oh, Ellie.... maybe I _am_ jealous...”

Ellie held her husband close, letting him sob into her bare breasts. “It's okay,” she told him. “I'm with you. I'll always be with you.”

“I... I know,” he said. “Consciously, I _know_ that. But that fucking dream... It was just so damned _vivid._ I almost died and you saved me... but you weren't mine... Ellie, you weren't _mine_... hell, I didn't even have Ian. I didn't have _anyone_. All I had was... ” Alan winced. “Christ, all I had was _Billy._ And _he_ stole a _raptor's eggs..._ that little _shit_....”

“Alan, _please_ don't hold Billy accountable for the things dream-Billy did,” Ellie said with a wry smile.  
Alan chuckled. “Right. He's a little shit for entirely _different_ reasons.”

Ellie laughed. “Don't be so hard on him. He's just a _kid_. And anyway, he _always_ covers for us.”

“Yeah... well...” Alan's words trailed off to a grumble, and he sighed. “Ellie, it just felt so fucking _real_... how do I know I'm not dreaming _now?_ ” he asked her. “Can I be sure _this_ isn't a dream?”

“It's real. Feel it?” She stroked his chin, guiding his eyes back to hers; he felt her touch. She kissed him; he tasted her lips, feeling them press against his own. “See? Real. That nightmare? Not real.”

“It's real,” Alan agreed, smiling at her. “It's _really_ real... oh god, don't _leave_ me, Ellie...”

“I _won't_ ,” she breathed, calming his fear. “You _know_ I won't.”

They kissed again, and then spent a long moment simply staring thoughtfully into each others' eyes.

“Ellie... You're the one person I could always count on... I don't know if I've ever told you that... I owe you so _much_.”

“You've never _needed_ to,” she informed him, smiling.

“But I _do_ , Ellie,” he insisted. “If I don't, you'll never _know_ , and then... and _then_...” A choking sob swallowed his words, rendering him incapable of uttering the phrase, _and then I might lose you._

“Alan... I _do_ know,” she corrected him. “And don't forget how much I rely on _you_ , too. We _need_ each other, Alan. It's why we're _together._ We've been together through so _much_ , how could we _not_ be?”

“You know, before I met you, I thought I was the last of my breed,” he said thoughtfully. “Thank you for proving me _wrong_.”

“Come here,” said Ellie, her smile full of adoration. She pulled Alan close, rolling onto her back to let Alan rest his head in the soft valley between her small but perfect breasts. “I think you'll be more comfortable like this.”

“I think you're right,” said Alan, taking in her warm feminine scent. He yawned, nuzzling her skin. “And I  _ am _ still sleepy.”

“I hope you have better dreams this time.”

“ _Any_ kind of dream would be better than _that_.”

“Even a dream about the _park?_ ”

Alan winced. “That was a rough trip, but it wasn't _all_ bad... The _herbivores_ were nice.”

They laughed.

“Columbia was worse,” Ellie pointed out.

“Yeah.” Alan smiled grimly, remembering.

They lay together quietly for a long moment.

“Hey, Ellie,” Alan whispered.

“Hmm?”

“I'm glad we don't have a _parrot_.”

Ellie giggled. “I thought you _loved_ birds.”

“Not those big parrots... _macaws._ Maybe a cockatiel or a 'keet would be nice, but but not a macaw, _never_ a _macaw, shit_.... I can't _stand_ macaws. They're messy, they're loud, they repeat things they _shouldn't_... they forget peoples' _names_... they _scream_.... oh, lordy, can those things _scream_. I get enough headaches as it is.”

“You know, there was a time when you used arguments like that against having _children_ ,” Ellie reminded him, amused. “Now we have _two_ of those.”

“Did I?” Alan asked, blinking at her.

“You did.”

Alan shook his head and smiled. “Funny how things work out.”

Ellie grinned at him. “Shine on, you crazy diamond,” she muttered sleepily, invoking the title of one of her favorite Pink Floyd songs; it was the one that reminded her of Alan the most.

Sleep soon overtook them again. It was peaceful this time, Alan's fears calmed by his loving mate's embrace and soothing smell.

She smelled like love. It was the only way he could think to describe her scent.

Warm, safe love.

 


End file.
